21st Annual Student Research Conference
Early Residential and Urban Planning Solutions in the Former Soviet Union
Douglas M. Eudy
Dr. Sara Orel, Dr. Julia DeLancey, and Dr. Sally West, Faculty Mentors
After the October Revolution in 1917, the Bolsheviks, armed with the ideals of Marxism-Leninism, sustained the dream of world revolution while attempting to reform the residential landscape of the early Soviet Union. This massive transformation required the overhauling of historic social structures with revolutionary ones. Modernization and industrialization became central goals and along with these came experimentation in the arrangement of the residential environment. Russian architects developed novel layouts for communal dwellings, as well as for entirely new cities. During this period of radical development, the ideas of two western European planners, Ebenezer Howard and Le Corbusier, were adapted by the Soviets. The results were a variety of syntheses that reveal the Russian planners’ preoccupation with fostering a new collectivist identity amongst the citizens of the early Soviet Union. Their goal was nothing short of fundamentally altering the processes of daily life through the radical restructuring of residential space.
Keywords: Russian history, Soviet architecture, city planning, utopian socialism
Topic(s):Art History
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 15-3
Location: OP 2210
Time: 10:15